Monthly Subscription box - Glossybox May

This month's Glossybox really was a good one, definitely worth every penny. As with most monthly subscription boxes, they can be a bit hit and miss from month to month but May's box is a hit with me. Glossybox teamed up with Superdrug for this month's box as a celebration of Superdrug's 50th birthday, and with it came some brilliant products.

Firstly then, this BB cream from Garnier. It is described on the box as a '5-in-1 Miracle Skin Perfector' and I really hope it lives up to it's claims as it really does sound like the perfect BB cream if so. I was slightly worried at first to see that I had been sent the medium shade as I may not exactly be pale, I am not usually medium either! I would definitely have chosen the light shade if I was buying it in the shops myself, but actually when I swatched it on my hand the shade wasn't too dark for me (the second picture is it blended in). I'd say it is slightly darker than my actual skin colour but may just about be passable enough to at least trial it for a few days if blended enough, fingers crossed! I do really like all of the Garnier products that I have had though so hopefully this is another great product from them.

I love this B. Sheer Conditioning Lipstick in shade Coral 33. It really does have a hydrating feel on your lips and leaves them looking really glossy without being at all sticky like with a gloss. It doesn't quite have the colour pigmentation I would have liked, but saying that it does leave a nice subtle colour to the lips so would be good for if you were trying to have a subtle lip look. I would definitely buy more colours in this product though as they really are nice on the lip, and as they are down to £3.49 plus being 3 for 2 at the moment I think I will be buying a few really soon!

I was slightly disappointed with this when I first received this Maybelline Color Show Crystallize Polish in shade 236 Nearly Black, we are coming in to Spring now and with that I was hoping for gorgeous, bright spring colours and so this black shade (albeit it contains glitter) just seemed a bit dull and depressing. It does look nice on the nail after 2 coats, and it is really easy to apply evenly so I do really like it, I just would have preferred a colour more appropriate for this season! Oh well, I'll put it away in my nail polish draw as I'm sure I'll be getting a lot of wear out of it in the colder months.

I am going through a bit of a hair oil/serum phase at the moment so I was really excited to receive this Frizz Ease product from John Freida. I've seen the adverts and it really seemed like it would be a great product (it seems I'm a sucker for advertising). I wasn't disappointed either. I don't particularly have frizzy hair as mine is naturally dead straight, but I do get a few fly-aways here and there and serums are always good for making your hair look really glossy so I will always use them regardless of how frizzy my hair is. I found that it was really easy to apply to the hair and didn't leave your hair feeling greasy or weighed down and kept it looking really smooth and shiny. I would be interested in knowing if people with actual frizzy hair were impressed with the results of this product as much as me.

I recently did a review on my favourite foot cream from Sanctuary Spa here so I was quite happy to find one in my Glossybox this month for comparison. I find Scholl a really good brand for all things feet and have bought many products from them before so I had high expectations for this product. I have only used it once so far and, although small, I have noticed a difference in the condition of my feet already. My feet were in a relatively good condition anyway as I do take care of them, applying foot balms and using a pumice stone at least once or twice a week, but this just seems to give them a deep, intensive moisturising that you could really feel the next morning. Very soft and with it being non-scented I liked it that little bit more. It may just be me but I find a lot of foot creams/ balms have a funny smell to them? One that you would definitely not pick up if it was in a body lotion or hand cream. But this was nice and I'm looking forward to using it again. Oh, and it isn't messy at all. I was thinking that going to bed with cream all over my feet would leave oily marks all over my sheets where it has rubbed off but it really hasn't.

This was a pretty small sample so was difficult to really get a good trial of it as after 1.5 uses it was all gone! Slightly disappointing... But this Oil-Infused Nourishing Lotion from Garnier does seem to be a really good product and one I would like to buy to try more of. I have quite dry skin on my legs and arms and this really did feel nourishing on my skin. There seemed to be a slight improvement to my skin but it would have been nice to see how it benefited from being able to use it over a longer time period. Did smell delicious though. Will be picking up a full size bottle soon!

My friend had made me try this Ghost Eclipse perfume when we were at The Perfume Shop the other weekend and so it was a nice surprise to receive a sample bottle in my box! It is quite a sweet scent that I love and will be keeping in my bag to spritz on during the day. I wouldn't say it was one of my favourite perfumes but I would happily wear it. I also found the scent wore off after a couple of hours so doesn't have a great longevity.

So that's my opinion on this month's Glossybox. Did any other subscribers get the same products as me? What were your opinions?

Garnier BB Cream available here for £7.99
B. Sheer Conditioning Lipstick available here for £3.49
Maybelline Color Show Crystallize Polish available here for £3.99
Frizz Ease Original available here for £3.99
Scholl Velvet Smooth Night Mask available here for £5.99
Garnier Oil-Infused Nourishing Lotion available here for £6.99 for 400ml
Ghost Eclipse Eau de Toilette available here for £33 for 50ml

Subtle make-up looks - Wedding day!

So, with the wedding rapidly approaching (in case you missed it, it's my brother's not mine!) my mum and my aunt have asked me to do them some subtle but pretty make- up for the big day. As they are complete newcomers to make-up I was a bit nervous about using different products and styles on them on the morning of the wedding without trying them on them beforehand, so have started experimenting with some basic make-up looks on them. Understandably they didn't want anything to heavy for the day, partly because I think it would be a massive shock to the family as it is if they are seen with make-up on! So I tried to really tone it down.

Last night I tried out some looks on my aunt for the first time, it was actually a really fun evening! She has quite dark eyelids and under-eyes naturally and so she just wanted to lighten them and even out the colour as well as give a nice even glow to her face in general, so these are the products I used:

Firstly I applied the Garnier Caffeine Roll-on to her under-eye area. I love this product because it works immediately as well as long term; it has a subtle nude pigment (you do have to pat it in slightly with your ring finger) which instantly conceals any dark circles whilst the caffeine in it works to fight their appearance long term. Here's a swatch so you can see what I mean by the pigment, bear in mind this is just rolled on, I haven't blotted it in to the skin in the picture:

It is quite thin so really easy to pat in to the skin and doesn't leave it looking cakey under your eyes.

I then applied a CC cream to her entire face. I chose a CC cream over a foundation as they are much lighter and so would look softer on her face. The one I used is from Beauty UK and is in shade 20 Fawn. It gives a lovely even cover to the face and is the perfect texture to blend in to those tricky areas around the nose and eyes.

I then set this with Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder in Translucent as mentioned in my earlier blog post here. I applied this incredibly lightly with a chunky powder brush and it suited her face a lot better than it suited mine! Then a quick brush of Avon Illuminating Face Pearls to brighten her face and add a little colour.

I love these pearls, they give a gorgeous shimmer and highlight perfectly without being heavy in any way.

And then it was just her eyes to do!

I applied some Benefit Stay Don't Stray in shade light/medium just over the eyelid up to the brow to hold all the eye products in place and then applied a light pink illuminator (I think I got this in a set from The Body Shop YEARS ago!) to highlight her brows to make her eyes look more open. Then Mac Eyeshadow in shade Gleam to the lid just to add a bit of colour and shimmer. This eyeshadow is perfect because it doesn't settle in the creases of your eyelid like some others do and so looks even all day long. Here is a swatch of the 2 colours together:

As you can see, they are very gentle colours but great for highlighting. I then finished the whole look off with a couple of lashings of one of my favourite mascaras - Maybelline The Colossal Volum' Express Smokey Eyes Mascara.

Overall I was incredibly happy with the look, and more importantly my aunt loved it too! It was a nice toned down 'barely there' look that just looked great on her.

Do you have any suggestions of looks/ products to try out? Recommendations and comments are always welcome!